John Barley

When our artist Jourdon Gullett was installing the massive mural that’s located in the front hall of our taproom SOB head brewer Tim Marshall entered to see what he was doing. “What is this, your pain cave?” Tim said. “I guess so,” replied Jourdon. “That’d make a pretty good beer name,” Tim mumbled as he walked away.

Back in 2014 we wanted to sprinkle in a new IPA we had been discussing for a while. It was just a fifteen-barrel batch and for the most part it was kept here in the comforts of our taproom. What we kicked out was Pain Cave, one of our fastest moving and most highly sought-after beers of 2014. When scheduling came around we decided to invest more tank time in its success. We decided to make six batches in total and offer in both draft and bomber format.

It's been three years since we first started this incredible journey and it is time to raise our glass. Our annual Oath Day celebration has grown each year and we've put in a lot of effort to make this our best party yet. If you will be joining us and have a ticket, here are the details. If you missed out or simply can't make it, keep in mind we'll have some leftovers available on Sunday and there is always next year.

On Saturday your job is to have a good time. Make new friends, enjoy the beer, and destroy your older brother with a giant Q-Tip. Last year went swell, so again please keep our neighbors and the City of Naperville in mind when you're deciding how hard to party or how to party hard. We would like to continue to do this each year and just like Oath Day Two we need your help keeping things within the boundaries of such things as the law and good taste to continue to have this opportunity. In short, don't be an asshole.

It is that time of year again. The Oath Day cometh. And with our annual celebration comes the extraordinary efforts of our artist Jourdon Gullett.

Each year at this time Jourdon works tirelessly to develop the extra little things that give Oath Day that aesthetic boost (yeah Erin, we know you helped too). Pins, stickers, hats, tees, and this year a few extra pieces of stuff for your SOB collection.

Like a conspiracy theory obsessed cousin, we’ve been stockpiling our vital items for this week’s Oath Day Three.

Long lost wood-aged wonders, never-before-seen Intelligentsia collaborations, hoppy beers for days, and more will be featured across the six beer stations we’ll have for Oath Day. A DJ spinning 80s vinyl, an arcade, a photo booth, some sweet vans, a mobile (and tented) halfpipe, American Gladiator-style jousting, custom motorcycles (weather permitting), and what we assume are your best friends. We'll have more on the available and upcoming Oath Day merch and special items this week. It's going to be awesome.

Developing and sharing stories has always been a massive piece of the culture here at Solemn Oath. Today our Vikings series moves from a trilogy to a tetralogy.

Last week at the Craft Brewers Conference I sat on a panel with Tommy Gannon of Sierra Nevada and Jeff Billingsly of Deschutes to discuss flagship beers. Sierra obviously has Pale and Deschutes has two in Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter. We, of course, have none.

We’re at it again. Our third anniversary is nearly here and as we go forward we’re going to go back in time.

There’s no need to dress up, but Oath Day 2015 will rock a not-so-subtle '80s vibe. Again we’ll be skipping out on long lines and obnoxious crowds in favor of closing down for the day and opening up as much of our entire facility as we can, including a massive chunk of the parking lot and brewery. Oath Day is Saturday, May 16th, and here are the details. Again this year we’ll have two sessions and there will be even more room to spread your wings. We’ll have more pouring stations, more activities, more coffee beers, more wood-aged beers, more collaborators, more SOBs, and more time.

The rise of Michael Kiser and Good Beer Hunting has been an incredibly personal adventure for me to witness. When Solemn Oath began, I didn’t know Michael. We first met in April of 2012 when he visited our brewery while we were making SOB Batch #001.

At that time, Good Beer Hunting existed as a tumblr page with just a small and primarily local following. GBH’s captivating aesthetics through Michael’s photography and a poetic approach to storytelling drew me in as a reader. Michael’s written word has always had the ability to establish an emotional connection between me and the people and places that he visits. In short, Michael has made me give a shit about things I didn’t even know. Over the years we have become great friends and watching him grow the GBH brand and develop his own personal skill sets has been incredible to watch.

In late spring of 2014 we began our adventure of bringing beer outside of Illinois. How we selected our second market, Wisconsin, was simple: we wanted to bring beer back to our roots.

Chicagoland is our home, but my brother Joe and I grew up about sixteen miles north of Milwaukee. For us, bringing SOB home to Wisconsin, maintaining that personal connection to where we're from, and, above all, doing it well have always been high on our priorities.